MattM316

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...ype=blogs&_r=0


After suffering six withdrawal seizures in the past three years (three just two weeks ago) I now have this article stuck on the front of my fridge and have shared it around.

The 15% fatality part is quite shocking and it's pretty amazing that even now not many people are aware of the dangers involved of alcohol withdrawal.

ESD907

I just read it. HOLY CR@P. it could many any of us. I never knew. Thanks for sharing it. I used to think the people giving the advice to others trying to quit, to see a doctor, was silly. But it was me who was/is silly... again, thanks for sharing this.

Climber122

Thanks for sharing - yes there are only two drugs that can kill via withdrawal; alcohol and benzos. Heroin, cocaine, painkillers etc certainly feel like one is dying when coming off (and of course all have their dangers especially via overdose), but isn't it ironic that one of the most socially acceptable drugs in society is also one of the most dangerous?

Unfortunately when we are in active addiction we are usually unable to call up the knowledge or acceptance of these facts with enough force to sway us to stop drinking. This is one reason we lose so many people to alcohol year in and year out. Good, smart, sensitive resourceful people die needlessly in droves and deprive the world of their gifts - very sad. If you look at the cold hard numbers it's really a staggering phenomenon. Anyone who's sober today should be very, very grateful.

JD4010

Makes you realize just how insane the "War on Drugs" is. One of the deadliest drugs is legal, condoned and advertised.

MattyBoy

I'd never heard of alcohol withdrawal before I went through it. Of course I was familiar with the old hangover as everyone is, but dying from alcohol withdrawal seemed a little extreme to me until I did the research.

Weird how it's not common knowledge . I mean I suppose it is relatively uncommon considering the number of people who drink alcohol but I would've thought more people would be aware that it can happen .

fotographia

I've never been physically addicted to alcohol, so I have never experienced alcohol withdrawal; but when I stopped drinking heavily I did not stop suddenly and instead I cut back slowly anyway.

Yes alcohol withdrawal can be very dangerous, and people have died from it.

Withdrawal from Benzodiazapine drugs like Xanax or Valium is the same way with the seizures.

MattM316

Yeah same here, it wasn't until I did proper research a few years ago that I ended up reading loads about it and I was shocked that pretty much nobody had any idea about it.
I even recall an ex saying it was a load of rubbish and that put me back on my road to sobriety.

I've suffered no end of injuries due to the seizures and although you haven't got a clue you're having one or have even had one, the injuries soon make up for that!

2muchpain

Thanks,

I just printed it out. Good article to read if I start thinking about drinking again!! John

anattaboy

Yup, the number of folks who die in jail from alcohol withdrawal is high. Some families have sued for negligence and a few have won but let's face it--most of us have little family left. Sad indeed.

Stayingsober72

I had an ex bf who drank over a fifth of whiskey a day and decided he wanted to stop. I was 25 at the time and pretty new to drinking; he was forty and a veteran. When he told me. I was going to need to take him to the hospital to detox, I was confused. By the time we got there at 8 in the morning and he was three hours without a drink, I began to understand why we were in the E.R. He was having d.t.'s. It was very frightening.

Soberwolf

I live not too far from where amy lived and i can promise you Alcohol withdrawl did not kill amy winehouse she wasnt sober as much as i wish that wasnt true the truth is she just wasnt sober i followed her career as she came up from the genre i used to DJ in and followed her music until she died tragically in the spotlight

i do believe you tho about the 15% and it not being well known

babycat

I had heard she died from alcohol POISONING not withdrawal. How did she die then?

Bostonsportsfan

Same here, until I was going through it, I had basically never heard of it.

BackToSquareOne

If you drink for a long time you can build up a tolerance to crazy amounts of alcohol. If you stop for a while and clean up your act your tolerance will go down. If you then try to drink those same large amounts without the tolerance that was built up over time you can die of alcohol poisoning. I remember reading that this is what happened in her case. I would assume this was only speculation tho.

MattM316

It doesn't take a long period of abstinence for it to happen.
I stopped drinking at about 7pm on the Saturday and my first seizure hit some time on the Sunday evening. I didn't even know i'd had one until the next morning. Then two more seizures on the Monday morning at the hospital.
So even if she just went 24 hours without any alcohol it could have happened.

But saying that, I think her death was confirmed as alcohol poisoning:
Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning, second inquest confirms | Music | theguardian.com


Maybe she was aware of the dangers of withdrawal and decided to have a huge binge to avoid it?
Either way, however she died it's great that the dangers of alcohol withdrawal was put out there to the public a bit more.

Soberwolf

Amy winehouse is one of the saddest cases of addiction i know

Whatever the case i would like to think she wanted to be sober

MesaMan

To facilitate understanding, I ran some conversions from U.K. -> U.S. BAC Units of Measure. Reference Websites are linked below.

80 milliGrams of Ethanol Alcohol in 100 milliLiters [1 deciLiter] of Whole Blood is another way of stating .08 BAC; the U.S. and U.K. Legal Limit. According to the U.K. Coroner's Report in the Article linked above and below, Amy Winehouse was at ~.41 BAC [>5x the Legal Limit]. This was after she reported being Sober for ~2.5 weeks.

'Winehouse had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her blood [~.41 BAC], enough to make her comatose and depress her respiratory system.'

Amy Winehouse Inquest ~ The Guardian.com

U.K., U.S., and BAC Legal Limits in other Countries are listed here. Note that there are Countries with Zero Tolerance ['ZT'], and No Limit ['NL'].

Drinkdriving.org

In the Chart below, a BAC of .40 and above is the threshold causing the 'onset of coma, possible death due to respiratory arrest'.

Chart from: The Truth About Forensic Science.com

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